Don’t believe the hype. Or do, if you must, but Primes’ Jack Duckworth doesn’t agree with it.

"Bands are marketed like they sell cars," says

Duckworth. "There’s not as much of a movement anymore. I guess I come from a background where people were doing things in a more communal way. I kinda miss that."

Dark, menacing beats layered with Michelle Synnot’s syncopated loops and Duckworth’s rumbling bass lines are at the core of Primes’ music. Blending elements and influences ranging from Duckworth’s post-punk and hardcore work with Radio Berlin and Synnot’s German techno "boom-boom" DJ experience, the duo/couple are by no means a downer of a band. They aim to be a party flavour.

"The funny thing is that it’s the least dark band I’ve ever been in," admits Duckworth with a chuckle. "Radio Berlin was pretty dour. Primes has got a lot of a sense of humour to it. When we’re recording we just laugh our heads off."

Jaded? Sure. But Primes’ upcoming release–their first full-length studio effort–represents a more laidback approach to music-making than previous projects.

"The songwriting process is actually the most organic I’ve ever done, which is kinda weird because the music is far more electronic," he explains. "We don’t jam. As we’re writing it, we just know how it’s going to be played live."

As for funk-electro rockers Shout Out Out Out Out, big surprises are apparently on the way.

And although band mastermind Nik Kozub would not reveal all the details surrounding the future of the band (did I hear rumours of a record and a potential label deal?), the six local rocksters, who shed their guitars for keyboards and vocoders with the clear intent to funk things up, just keep getting better and better.

"We’re all rock guys, right?" says Kozub. "So for us to go and start playing around with samplers and synthesizers is pretty new territory. The more we play, the more we’re getting to know how well that really works."

Primes and Shout Out Out Out Out: rockers for the computer age who aren’t afraid to tear up the stage. Colour me hyped.

THE ROCKY FORTUNE

The rock ’n’ roll life is often times one of hardship, late-night bar talk, coffee churned into a pasty syrup from too much sugar and cream, and fold-out road maps resting on your van’s dashboard along with loose change and good luck trinkets.

Taking these images and blending them in with all the music you’ve ever listened to will often lead you to write songs that beg for comparisons. For a trio like Olds’ The Rocky Fortune, it’s always been something hanging over their heads like a sword of Damocles, but if you ask them, comparisons are a blessing more than they are a curse.

"No two people ever liken us to the same band," exclaims Rocky Fortune bassist Todd Gesshe. "The more you listen to it and pick it apart, the more it really is all over the place. It’s kinda like the Beatles’ approach to songwriting."

It is true that The Rocky Fortune’s music conjures up familiar sounds like that of Neil Young and the Fab Four, but they are also deeply rooted in modern rock sensibilities and sing-song guitar patterns of bands like The Stills and The Joel Plaskett Emergency. With their first self-titled LP, The Rocky Fortune have taken ten years of experience playing under monikers such as Sons Of Daughters and Darryl’s Grocery Bag and tightened their craft. Downsized to a three-piece shortly after having completed working on their album, Gesshe being forced to pick up bass and guitarist Tyler Toews making up for the lack of two guitars all by himself, The Rocky Fortune decided to simply roll with it.

"You have to be so inventive when you’re a three-piece," admits Gesshe. "You have to try and see how you can make the music happen and make it sound bigger than it is.

"We try to embrace our evolution all the time," he says. "But people don’t always understand the moves we make."

BOB KEMMIS

Bob Kemmis’ Arena Ready could’ve turned into a strange patchwork of disjointed songs. Recorded over three years with producer Craig Northley between tours and Kemmis’ constant technical and supporting work with artists such as Jann Arden and Bryan Adams, Arena Ready is, ultimately, a very tightly constructed and cohesive record.

"The one thing we didn’t want was for people to go, ‘Oh, this is the tribute to Bob Dylan song, and this the tribute to Elvis Costello or Brian Wilson song,’" he says. "We would refer to them when we were working on the treatment of the songs. But it’s more about getting a feeling or an emotion across."

Spending so much time away from the studio allowed Kemmis to be more objective about his material and enable him to dive headfirst back into the recording process without missing a beat.

Arena Ready is an album full of idiosyncrasies and references, but it’s never a pastiche of other artists’ work. However, some of the songs will incorporate elements from bands such as Wilco ("Let Down") and Badly Drawn Boy ("Letter To Gotham").

"The last time I opened for Badly Drawn Boy, we sat down and actually got to talk about influences and found out that we like a lot of the same music," explains Kemmis, who actually played with BDB after his album was done. "Maybe that’s where it’s coming from."

With four albums worth of material and plenty more "in the can", is Bob Kemmis really "arena ready"? "I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being entertaining," he admits. "My history in the industry has been working for bands that do play arenas and large theatres. The idea was to make the title of the record the complete opposite of the cover of the album [where Kemmis is portrayed sitting on an unmade bed in a dingy hotel room]. Maybe next week."

ANNE-LOUISE GENEST

Having toured solo over the past year to promote her latest record, Big Dream, roots singer-songwriter Anne-Louise Genest is back with a trio–Bob Hamilton on resophonic guitar, mandolin and vocals, and Matt King on upright bass. Encompassing musical genres suck as folk, old tyme bluegrass, and gospel, the current tour is a closer reflection of her album work. "It’s challenging, coming from the Yukon, to go out with a band," says Genest. "I did a singer-songwriter tour with [fellow Yukoner] Kim Beggs last year. What’s different this time is that it’s livelier, it’s more colourful, and it adds a lot to the songs."

You can bet that once the festival season starts, Genest will once again be touring in a singer-songwriting setting as well as shining a light on some new material being readied for her next release. But roots enthusiasts shouldn’t miss out on the current opportunity to see Genest playing live with some of her studio collaborators.